Finding synergies between the civil, space and defence sectors

Daniel Fiott served as a panel speaker at an expert workshop organised by the European Commission on 5 November. The workshop was organised to discuss how the EU can create synergies between the civil, space and defence sectors. This task is the focus of an Action Plan to be drafted by the European Commission during its 2021 Work Programme.

A number of high-level officials from EU member states, EU institutions, industry, academia and civil society joined the workshop. Daniel drew on experiences from Israel, Japan and the United States to show that synergising civil, space and defence sectors is not easy but there is a large payoff in doing so. Fiott outlined the benefits and risks of technology roadmaps, of creating new innovation hubs, rethinking defence procurement and the importance of handling technology dependencies and interconnections.